Scrutinizing Developments in Texas Appellate Law

Mar 03, 2015

On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at noon, I will be moderating a CLE panel at the Belo Mansion on the topic of error preservation. The DBA Judiciary Committee is presenting this program, which is entitled "Adventures in Error Preservation." The panelists will be Dallas Court of Appeals Justice Ada Brown, Judge Eric Moye (14th District Court of Dallas County), and former district judge James M. Stanton. Please come to the Belo for a lively discussion on an important topic. Reproduced below is the Judiciary Committee's announcement about the program.

Apr 29, 2013

Partisan judicial elections have been the subject of much hand-wringing in Texas, but not much action. As in many legislative sessions, several bills that would require some action have been filed this session. Two of them propose vastly different approaches to the issue.

HB 2772 proposes the creation of an interim committee to study the issue. The committee would be composed of both Senators and House members. The committee's mandate would be to study the "fairness, effectiveness, and desirability" of our current system of partisan elections and compare that to alternative judicial selection methods, including lifetime appointment, appointment for a term, appointment followed by contested election, and appointment followed by retention election. The committee's report would be due just before the 2015 Legislative session. HB 2772 has been considered in committee and reported favorably to the House. Click here to access information about the bill.

While a committee study is a stereotypical legislative approach, it would be more progress on the issue than has been seen in recent Legislative sessions. HB 2772 appears to reflect a recognition that there are issues to address. It may not lead to any changes, but it is a step in the right direction.

On the other side of the spectrum, HB 129 proposes to address the impact of campaign contributions. The bill would require all justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals to recuse themselves if a party, an attorney, a law firm, a "managing agent" of a party, a member of a board of directors of a party, or a political action committee created by a party made a contribution of $2,500 or more to the justice or judge in the preceding four years. Interestingly, the bill would allow the opposing party to waive the recusal requirement. This bill has been referred to the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee and has not yet been considered by the committee. Click here for information on HB 129.

The obvious impact of this bill would be to immediately limit law firm and attorney contributions to Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals races. It would also probably cause other contributors to rethink their approach to donations. No one with a possibility of having a case in either court would likely exceed the $2,500 contribution limit. But I'm not sure that simply trying to starve these state-wide races of funding will address the issues with partisan judicial elections. Nor does this bill address partisan elections of intermediate appellate judges or trial-level judges. It will be interesting to see whether this bill goes anywhere.

Apr 25, 2013

The Supreme Court Advisory Committee will meet in Austin on Friday April 26, 2013. Please see the advisory from the Court's rules attorney, which is reproduced below. Among other items, the committee will continue its work on uniform electronic filing rules.

STATUS REPORTCommittee liaison Justice Nathan L. HechtJustice Hecht will report on Supreme Court actions and those of other courts related to the Supreme Court Advisory Committee since the December 2012 meeting. Justice Hecht may refer new issues for the committee’s study.

Any person may comment on rules proposals before the Supreme Court of Texas or the Supreme Court Advisory Committee or offer suggested changes to the Texas Rules of Court, including the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Texas Rules of Evidence, the Rules of Judicial Administration and the Parental Notification Rules.

Jan 02, 2013

On January 14, 2013, the Texas Supreme Court will hold the investiture ceremony for its two newest justices, Jeff Boyd and John Devine. The Court will also honor former Justices Dale Wainwright and David Medina. The ceremony will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the House Chamber at the Texas Capitol.

Sep 19, 2012

The Texas Supreme Court just announced that Justice Dale Wainwright will resign, effective as of the end of this month. Below is the Court's press release. The governor will get to appoint a new justice to Wainwright's seat.

-- Scott Stolley, Thompson & Knight

Wednesday, September 19, 2012JUSTICE WAINWRIGHT TO LEAVECOURT AT END OF THE MONTH

Justice Wainwright joined the Court in January 2003. He is the third longest-serving justice on the Court.

“We are losing a great friend,” Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson said. “Dale’s scholarship, his attention to the administration of justice and his dedication to the Court are all part of a legacy that will long outlive his years of service.”

Before his election to the Court in November 2002, Wainwright served almost four years as a Harris County district court judge. He came to the bench after private practice with the Haynes and Boone and Andrews Kurth law firms in their Houston offices. He also practiced law in Nashville before moving to Houston.

“My service on the Court has been profoundly satisfying,” Wainwright said. “Over the last decade, I have worked with outstanding jurists at the Court in the development of the law and have made and solidified life-long friendships. I greatly enjoyed private practice, and it is time to return to it.”

Justice Wainwright is a graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law and earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in economics from Howard University. While at Howard he studied for a semester at the London School of Economics.

He serves as trustee of the Center for American and International Law board and as an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Justice Wainwright and his wife, Debbie, live in Austin with their 15-year-old son. Their adult sons live in California and Austin.

Wainwright’s term on the Court ends in 2014. An appointment to replace him will be subject to Senate confirmation.

Jun 11, 2012

Last week, the clerks of all of the Texas intermediate appellate courts announced the adoption of a new, uniform docketing statement. In addition to making the form uniform across all of the courts, the new version is a PDF fillable form that will make preparing and filing the docketing statement much easier.

The new form is the result of work by a committee of appellate court clerks chaired by Lisa Matz, Clerk of the Dallas Court of Appeals, with Karinne McCullough (1st Court), Jeff Kyle (Austin), Keith Hottle (San Antonio), Chris Prine (14th Court), and Blake Hawthorne (Supreme Court).

May 09, 2012

The Dallas Bar Association is holding a Judicial Candidates Forum at the Belo Mansion on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at noon. This is a good opportunity to learn about the candidates for judicial office in Dallas County and at the Dallas Court of Appeals.

Apr 10, 2012

Voting is now open for the State Bar of Texas Judicial Poll. If you are a member of the State Bar, you should receive an email like the one below, and also a mailed copy of the ballot.

-- Scott Stolley, Thompson & Knight

Dear Attorney:

The State Bar is conducting a poll of the contested Supreme Court of Texas, Court of Criminal Appeals and Court of Appeals district races up for election. The candidates reflected on the Texas Bar Poll are listed as filed with the Secretary of State's office at the time the poll went to print. This is a non-partisan straw poll of our current members. It is a preference poll only and has no bearing on the election. The Bar does not endorse any candidates. If no district race is displayed, this is because your district does not have a contested race. For more information about the candidates, please follow the links below:

The quickest way to vote is online. Please click the link below to access your secure online ballot (you may also cut and paste this link to your web browser). To log in, enter the Voter Authorization Number (VAN) provided in this email. You may want to write this number down before you click the link below.